Jon Hall Movies
Athletic leading man Jon Hall felt safe when, late in his career, he played fast and loose with the facts concerning his early life -- including his actual date of birth. That's because until 1937, there was no Jon Hall, at least not officially. When he began his film career, he was billed as Charles Locher (notably in 1935's Charlie Chan in Shanghai) then went by the named of Lloyd Crane. With his starring role as a persecuted native boy in John Ford's The Hurricane (1937), the actor became Jon Hall for keeps. During the 1940s, Hall co-starred with the exotic Maria Montez in a series of nonsensical but very popular Technicolor costume pictures at Universal, bearing such titles as Arabian Nights (1942) and White Savage (1943). With his beefcake physique beefing up where it shouldn't by the early 1950s, Hall turned to television, where he starred in the well-circulated syndicated series Ramar of the Jungle from 1952 through 1954. He then left acting cold for several years to become an accomplished manufacturer of photographic equipment, making an excellent living renting out his underwater cameras to various Hollywood producers. He returned to films as the star and director of The Beach Girls and the Monster (1965), which not surprisingly was more entertaining in its underwater scenes than when it bobbed to the surface. He also kept busy as owner-manager of a small flying school. Hall was married four times; his second wife was singer Frances Langford, and his third and fourth was actress Raquel Torres. In 1979, suffering from terminal bladder cancer and not wishing to be a further burden on his relatives, Jon Hall shot himself in his sister's North Hollywood home. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1940
The sailor in this entertaining 20th Century-Fox programmer is Danny Malone (Jon Hall), while the lady is Sally Gilroy (Claire Trevor). Danny's impending marriage to Sally is put on the back burner when she is put in charge of an orphaned baby (Bruce Hampton, playing a girl!) During naval maneuvers, the infant is accidentally deposited on board Danny's ship. Chaos reigns supreme until Danny hits upon a way to set things right. But before this mess can be cleared up, Danny and Sally will have to be reunited, something that their cast-off sweethearts Georgine (Katherine Aldridge) and Rodney (Larry "Buster" Crabbe) would like to prevent. Written by Lt. Commander Frank "Spig" Wead (of Wings of Eagle) fame, Sailor's Lady boasts one of the most impressive casts ever seen in a mere B picture, including Joan Davis, Wally Vernon, Dana Andrews, Don "Red" Barry, Kane Richmond, Ward Bond, Peggy Ryan, Barbara Pepper, Marie Blake (Jeanette MacDonald's sister) and George O'Hanlon (old "Joe McDoakes" himself). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nancy Kelly, Jon Hall, (more)
- 1937
The Girl from Scotland Yard has a dynamite opening sequence, as villain Franz Borg (Eduardo Cianelli) demonstrates his futuristic "death ray" on a helpless London. Threatening to destroy all of Europe if his demands aren't met, Borg hasn't reckoned with the resourcefulness of gorgeous secret service agent Viola Beech (Karen Morley) and American reporter Derrick Holt (Robert Baldwin). Things move apace until a serial-like climax in a runaway airplane. It's giving away nothing of the outcome to reveal that Viola and Derrick fall in love along the way. The Girl from Scotland Yard makes no pretence at believability, though it's slightly more credible than Karen Morley's tacked-on British accent. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Karen Morley, Katherine Alexander, (more)
- 1937
- NR
Framed in a flashback related by doctor Thomas Mitchell, The Hurricane is in essence the story of a struggle between individual freedom and colonial oppression. Jon Hall plays Terangi, a tempestuous native of the French-controlled island of Manakoora. After marrying childhood sweetheart Marama (Dorothy Lamour, saronged as usual), Terangi takes a job on a ship. While docked in Tahiti, Teragni is goaded into a fight by a white man-an offense punishable by a stiff prison term. French governor DeLaage (Raymond Massey) has nothing personal against the native, but he is dedicated to upholding the strict letter of the law. Even the appeals made on behalf of Terangi by doctor Mitchell, priest C. Aubrey Smith, ship's captain Jerome Cowan and the governor's own wife (Mary Astor) fail to weaken DeLaage's resolve to do his duty. Thus begins a chain of events that entangles the freedom-loving Terangi in the impenetable web of white "justice". Time and again Terangi escapes from prison, only to be recaptured and sentenced to longer and longer terms. Finally managing to make his way back to Manakoora -- and killing a prison guard in the process -- Terangi continues to be doggedly pursued by DeLaage. Just as Terangi is about to sail off to parts unknown in an outrigger canoe with Marama and their child, the hurricane begins. At the risk of his own life, and his freedom, Terangi rescue DeLaage's wife and several other storm refugees. Largely the handiwork of art director James Basevi, the hurricane of The Hurricane was not directed by the film's official helmsman John Ford, but by an uncredited Stuart Heisler -- a fact readily acknowledged by Ford. Adapted by Dudley Nichols and Oliver H. P. Garrett from a novel by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall, The Hurricane was poorly remade in 1979 with Jason Robards and Mia Farrow in the Raymond Massey and Mary Astor roles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dorothy Lamour, Jon Hall, (more)
- 1937
In this drama, a Boy Scout leader hosts a local gossip show. Trouble ensues when he predicts a politician's murder just before it occurs. He is arrested by the DA, but before getting to jail, he is abducted by irate gangsters--the real killers. Fortunately, his loyal Scout troop rallies to his rescue. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charlie Ruggles, Alice Brady, (more)
The second of three serials produced by the Weiss Bros. for low-budget Stage and Screen Productions, The Clutching Hand brought back that eminent detective Craig Kennedy, who had first appeared in Pearl White's The Exploits of Elaine back in 1915. Now played by the veteran Jack Mulhall, another holdover from the early silent era, Kennedy is hired to solve the mysterious disappearance of Dr. Paul Gironda, whose formula for the manufacture of synthetic gold is coveted by a mysterious cloaked villain known only as The Clutching Hand. Along with Dr. Gironda's nubile daughter, Verna (Marion Shilling), and young newspaper reporter Walter Jameson (Rex Lease), Kennedy is aided or opposed in his quest by an impressive array of unemployed former silent screen "names" that include William Farnum, Reed Howes, Mae Busch, Bryant Washburn, Franklyn Farnum, and Snub Pollard, not to mention newcomers like Charles Locher (later known as Jon Hall) and Tom Mix's daughter, Ruth. The best made and most successful of Stage and Screen's three chapterplays (the company had promised six or seven), The Clutching Hand was also released in a 70-minute highly edited feature version. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
Former pony express riders John Blair (John Wayne) and Larry Adams (Lane Chandler) don't buy the Brooklyn Bridge in this Republic Western, but the two greenhorns instead purchase a dilapidated stage line to a ghost town. While the unscrupulous seller, "Honest Cal" Drake (Douglas Cosgrove), count his loot, John and Larry learn that Crescent City is inhabited by Rocky (Lew Kelly), who claims to be mayor, postmaster, and sheriff, and Dr. William Forsythe (Sam Flint), a fellow victim of the duplicitous Drake. But despite its current condition, Crescent City has rich potential, especially if the newcomers can obtain a $25,000 government mail subsidy, the winner of which will be determined by a stagecoach race between nearby Buchanan City and Sacramento. Winds of the Wasteland was filmed on location in the Sierra Mountains and in the Sacramento Valley. Watch for future Universal star Jon Hall as one of John Wayne's pony express colleagues. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Wayne, Phyllis Fraser, (more)
- 1936
In his second of an unprecedented 131 Westerns for Columbia Pictures, handsome Charles Starrett donned his trademark white Stetson to portray Ranny Maitland, a Texas Ranger whose father (Lafe Mckee) is feuding with his neighbor, Lockhart (Edward Le Saint. Pretending to be on Lockhart's side in the feud, Ranny goes to investigate. Old man Maitland, meanwhile, is murdered and Lockhart arrested. Evidence found in Maitland's safe points to ranch foremen Brophy (Wheeler Oakman and Gilman (Dick Botiller), foremen of the respective ranches, as the culprits but the documents also incriminates Lockhart's son Lafe (Charles Locher). Believing Lafe to be innocent, Ranny organizes a posse to capture the foremen and the film concludes in a gigantic (for Columbia Pictures) battle at Blockade Canyon. Handsome young Charles Locher, in one of his earliest featured roles, later changed his name to Jon Hall and starred in escapist melodramas at Universal. As she had in Starrett's first Western for Columbia, brunette Joan Perry once again played the heroine, this time the daughter of the opposing rancher. Perry later married her boss, feared (and foul-mouthed) Columbia studio czar Harry Cohn. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Starrett, Joan Perry, (more)
Based on Edgar Rice Burroughs' The Lad and the Lion, which had been filmed previously in 1917, this ersatz-Tarzan melodrama shifts the scene from Darkest Africa to the Arabian Desert. The treacherous Sheik Youssef Ab-Dur (Ted Adams) kills an entire expedition and among the slain is Sir Ronald Chatham (Eric Snowden). Unbeknownst to the sheik, Sir Ronald's young son (Bobby Fairy) is saved from the attack by Sherrifa (Finis Barton) and given to a kindhearted desert mystic, Hassan El Dinh (Richard Carlyle). A young adult and now known far and wide as El L'ion, young Chatham (Jon Hall) goes in search of the villain who killed his father, falling in love along the way with the beautiful Eulilah (Kathleen Burke). The Lion Man was produced by Arthur Alexander for Normandy Pictures, a Poverty Row company otherwise engaged in producing cheap Westerns. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1935
After wrapping up his last case in Egypt, Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) heads to Shanghai for a well-deserved rest. It isn't long, however, before Chan has been summoned by the local constabulary to help smash an international dope ring. He is aided by erudite American intelligence agent James Andrews (Russell Hicks) and to a lesser extent by his overeager Number-One-Son Lee Chan (Keye Luke). The film is structured more like a serial than a mystery, with Chan and his friends escaping death and/or abduction at every turn. Only after rounding up the smugglers does Charlie reveal the well-concealed identity of the criminal mastermind behind it all. The nominal romantic lead is played by Charles Locher, who went on to greater fame as Jon Hall. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Warner Oland, Irene Hervey, (more)
